NHL: Bruins blank Flyers

BOSTON — It was a clear, bright Saturday in Boston, just the kind of atmosphere Ilya Bryzgalov expected.

When asked the day before if the recently crumbling defense in front of him was cause for concern, the always-sunny Philadelphia goalie said, “What’s the point to whip my hair on my head? What can I do? Just stay positive and prepare yourself for the better day. The sun’s going to come up, you know.”

True to that vision, the sun rose and fell over Beantown while inside the TD Garden the clouds of despair continued to build for Bryzgalov and the Flyers. Three Boston goals in the space of 2:18 of pure Philadelphia chaos in the first period were all the Bruins needed for a 3-0 victory, extending the Flyers’ losing streak to three games.

Tyler Seguin, Chris Kelly and Dan Paille all scored for the Bruins (16-3-3), who went the first 11 minutes of the game just before that span without a shot on net. That dichotomy wasn’t lost on coach Peter Laviolette.

“After 1-nothing, we stopped competing,” Laviolette said. “Up until that point, 10 minutes into the game guys were playing hard. There wasn’t a lot of room out there. Then they scored a goal and we never recovered. We didn’t respond to it.”

That’s one way to put it. For another...

“We’re down 1-0 and it seems like we just packed it in,” Scott Hartnell said. “One goal, we start to sag. Heads are down instead of being positive. ... Just the way the guys responded from that first goal was a little disheartening.”

Hartnell then listed the non-responsive suspects, starting with himself, going right to Most Visible Player Claude Giroux and then to Bryzgalov. But one guy did respond — Laviolette.

The coach took his time. But once he saw his players die an early death and not bother to resuscitate themselves, he shut the locker room door behind him and ... well, responded. So was Laviolette’s message a sunny one?

“I can’t tell you,” Bryzgalov said. “It’s a secret.”

As is his way, the coach had a special response when asked about his meeting with the players: “What meeting?” Laviolette said.

You wouldn’t think he’d need one. Laviolette has had more time with this group of players than the average head coach gets with one team in this league of quick-triggered general managers always looking for signs of players responding to coaches.

“It just seems that if one thing goes wrong out there, whether it be a bad call or their first goal on that power play when they made a great play ... you look down on the bench and everybody’s heads are down,” Hartnell said. “It just like we were deflated right (off) the bat. That’s not what good teams do.”

But discerning whether the Flyers are a good team that’s stumbling or one that needs a more significant fix isn’t an easy calculation. Not even for a goalie always looking on the bright side of life.

“I have no idea,” Bryzgalov said. “You ask the wrong person.”

Bryzgalov seemed similarly baffled after not seeing a shot for the first 11 minutes, then seeing the buzzing B’s come at him in waves.

First, there was a Kimmo Timonen hooking penalty. Then, there was chaos.

Andrej Meszaros, who last played Jan. 24 when he suffered a shoulder injury, failed to complete an easy clear. A moment later, a dynamic backpass by Milan Lucic through the slot went right by Meszaros and went to Seguin, who had a gaping net to hit at 11:53 for a 1-0 Bruins lead.

The Bruins then bottled up the Flyers and left Braydon Coburn trying to chase the play behind the net. Meanwhile, his momentary defensive partner Erik Gustafsson lost Kelly, who was all alone in front to convert a Jordan Caron pass into a second Bruins goal at 13:28. Then, only 43 seconds later, struggling Sean Couturier lost a puck at the blue line, Boston’s Gregory Campbell immediately shoveled it to Paille, and he went in untouched to easily poke a backhander under Il-yikes Bryzgalov for 3-0.

It was five shots on goal for the Bruins at that point, three of them getting past the shell-shocked Flyers goalie.

The Flyers’ defense and the beleaguered Bryz would recover from that first period barrage, but mostly because they had time to. For the Bruins, once up by three, decided to play shutdown hockey the rest of the way rather than the build-on-the-lead kind of carelessness the Flyers exhibited after taking a 4-1 lead on the Penguins two nights before.

It was the second time this season the Flyers (11-14-1) have been shut out. Rarely are they shut down so effectively, however.

“We’ll see how we respond tomorrow,” Danny Briere said. “We’re not happy with where we are, and it would be really easy to come out and point fingers and kind of quit at this point. I really believe nobody’s going to do that. We’re going to work really hard to find a way out of this mess.”